Friday, November 25, 2016

Project 365 - Fabulous 40 - Nov 20 to Nov 25

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  • Nov 20, 2016 - Stunning shot of Luke and the city at night, taken by my husband at his office.
  • Nov 21, 2016 - Quiet please, science in progress! (Running experiments for science fair)
  • Nov 22, 2016 - To grandmother's house we go! First road trip in the new vehicle.
  • Nov 23, 2016 - Though he doesn't eat them, he really wanted to help with the deviled eggs.
  • Nov 24, 2016 - Happy Thanksgiving! Our first ever attempt at mashed potatoes from scratch.
  • Nov 25, 2016 - This beer bread turned out great! It uses the yeast and bubbles in the beer instead of regular yeast to help with the rise. It was excellent!

Monday, November 21, 2016

Mid-November 2016 - Movie Marathon

So my first "real" post since turning 40 will be about (what else) movies! We took advantage of shipping the child off on a camping trip to spend the better part of 24 hours at the movie theater. And we had a great time! I have honestly been rather disappointed at the movie theater of late, so to find four films so very different from each other that we wanted to see, and then to have all four of them turn out to be, at worst, quite good, was quite a (pleasant) shock!

Doctor Strange was good, though not great.The visual effects were extremely well done and were used very effectively, but I had seen them all before in various forms. These may have been "cranked up to 11," but they are not really new or innovative. Still nifty to see, though I would only recommend 3D if you know you can handle it. (I could barely handle parts of it in 2D!) Tilda Swinton was amazing, though, and I'm not always a big fan of hers. Worth seeing, on the big screen if you can, but not in the top 5 (or even top 10) of my favorite Marvel films.

We didn't really have any intention of seeing The Magnificent Seven, though I was intrigued when it came in with a PG-13 rating instead of an R rating. I am a huge Denzel Washington fan, though not generally a big Western fan. I definitely did not care for the original of this movie, but when we looked at the movie times for the day, it worked out easily to see this one first thing in the morning and still get the others in well before dinner. It is the kind of movie we would have gone to see just for the heck of it in our pre-child days, so we gave it a shot, even though we weren't expecting very much from it. And I'm so glad we did! We actually quite enjoyed it, much more than I anticipated. It was fun! And funny! (Though it is not a comedy in any way.) And the James Horner score (his last before his death) is hauntingly beautiful. In this case, I will single out Ethan Hawke's performance. Truly amazing to watch, particularly how he wears a Southern accent completely convincingly, something few actors can pull off at all, much less this effortlessly. Another one worth seeing, though this one can easily wait for home viewing, in my opinion.

I knew going into it that Sully was right up my alley, but even then, it was so very good. It reminds me of Apollo 13 in all kinds of good ways. To paraphrase my brother, "it was very Clint Eastwood, in all the good ways." I loved the weaving in and out of time, and I adore movies that are very suspenseful even when you already know the story. Wonderful performances all around. Kudos to the entire cast! Definitely worth seeing, though again, would be fine for home viewing.

Arrival was the movie I was most curious and concerned about. Given how cryptic they were being in the previews, I figured this was the kind of movie that it was best NOT to know much about before seeing it, and I was right. So if you're interested in seeing it, stop reading about it! Yes, including this review! (Though no spoilers here.) #1 thing to know: this is not an action movie in any way. That's not a bad thing (or it's not to be), as I enjoy well done deliberately paced films (I don't want to call it "slow" due to the negative connotations that go with that when discussing movies). I was also afraid it might be scary or creepy; it was neither. Very different and refreshing, very good, definitely worth seeing.

So, 4 out of 4 on the "worth seeing" scale! An excellent weekend indeed. Let's see if the rest of the year's films can keep up.

Saturday, November 19, 2016

Project 365 - Fabulous 40 - Nov 14 to Nov 19

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  • Nov 14, 2016 - Death wish squirrel (though I'm pretty sure it knows she can't get through).
  • Nov 15, 2016 - Chin scratches for Kylo.
  • Nov 16, 2016 - Love the dark of the tree against the twilight sky.
  • Nov 17, 2016 - Some days, you just need a hot fudge sundae.
  • Nov 18, 2016 - Finn with his gorgeous amber eyes.
  • Nov 19, 2016 - It's fall, y'all! Such pretty leaves. (And the reason we have yard people.)

Sunday, November 13, 2016

Project 365 - Fabulous 40 - Nov 8 to Nov 13

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  • Nov 8, 2016 - I voted today, for the first time ever!
  • Nov 9, 2016 - Beautiful fall colors. No idea what tree this is, but it is a brilliant yellow.
  • Nov 10, 2016 - Because today absolutely needed some glitter.
  • Nov 11, 2016 - The child is off camping, so we're heading to the movies to see Dr. Strange.
  • Nov 12, 2016 - Getting caught up. Yes, four movies in one weekend (including yesterday).
  • Nov 13, 2016 - Everyone is doing their homework, even Rey, who is "helping" me.

In case you missed it (since I didn't post it)

A quick recap of things I really need to actually blog about but haven't had the time, like this (how on earth did we get here?!):

Sixth Grade??!!!
 And then we did this not long after (L-R: Kylo, Rey, and Finn, age approximately 10 weeks):

Yes, all siblings. Yes, we're insane.

Which very rapidly turned into this (T-B: Rey, Kylo, and Finn, now approximately 5 months):

From less than a week ago, covering me from hips to ankles.

And we really had no choice but to do this, due to a cracked radiator in our 1999 Camry that would have cost 3 times what the car was worth to repair it:

I can't believe we bought an SUV, even if it is a "crossover." We have been assimilated!
 We decided to drop soccer and try this, which is working well so far:

He's slowly but surely getting better.
And then there was this, our last year of eating off the kids' menu: 

12??!!!!!
Unfortunately, the party was largely interrupted by this (BIL and SIL did not come with our nieces due to weather , and both my parents and DH's sheltered here while it passed): 
Hurricane Matthew aftermath at my parents' house; the house made it through unscathed!
And this (not sure how many more of these I will get):


I hope to blog each of those individually, but at least you're caught up on the last, uh, 3+ months (sorry!). If you're wondering where the stitching pictures are, there hasn't been any stitching since my birthday. A lap full of kittens will do that to you! LOL But I want to snuggle with them for as long as I can while they're little, since they may not be as interested when they get older.

First "real" blog post is coming up, and it's about something completely unimportant: movies! (What else, right?)

Monday, November 07, 2016

Project 365 - Fabulous 40 - Nov 2 to Nov 7

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  • Nov 2, 2016 - Sneaking in some reading while Luke is at Taekwondo. (Brother Cadfael)
  • Nov 3, 2016 - Rey is keeping an eye on my productivity.
  • Nov 4, 2016 - Congratulations! Mom set the competition record in her age/weight class!
  • Nov 5, 2016 - Caturday nap time. Top to Bottom: Rey, Kylo, Finn
  • Nov 6, 2016 - Cooking is not my favorite thing, but I love when the ingredients are so pretty!
  • Nov 7, 2016 - I'm cute and adorable, too! And I'm not begging for chicken salad, nope, not me.

Tuesday, November 01, 2016

Project 365 - Fabulous 40 - Oct 27 to Nov 1

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  • Oct 27, 2016 - Home Sweet Home = my bed and my pillow!
  • Oct 28, 2016 - Tried Pollo Tropical tonight. Not bad. Nice change of pace from the usual.
  • Oct 29, 2016 - Can you find the two black cats hidden in this picture?
  • Oct 30, 2016 - Fall seems to be arriving a little late this year.
  • Oct 31, 2016 - Not sure how many more Halloween trick-or-treat pictures I'll get. Sniff, sniff.
  • Nov 1, 2016 - Mommy, it is taunting us! (They've never seen a squirrel this close before.)